From April 2023 — March 2024, I worked with NSUN on a piece of research exploring community and the mental… more
Better together? Community and the mental health lived experience landscape
Category: General
‘Like a puppet on a string’: The ‘sick note’ culture, from those who live it
Pushing people off benefits isn’t going to fix a broken economy, and it certainly won’t help the country “level up”; the only way the welfare system can be effective is if the systems that surround it – social care and the NHS – are effective, too…. more
Words Matter: Vulnerability
This piece was written by The Migrants’ Rights Network in collaboration with NSUN as a contribution to MRN’s Words Matter… more
Research, coercion, and the accountability dance
When research neglects to acknowledge the vast scale, breadth and intrinsic nature of coercion in psychiatry (in all its forms), then the results of studies like these are essentially inadmissible in day-to-day practice…. more
Legislating about us, without us: virtue signalling, self-harm, and the Criminal Justice Bill
Content note: This article discusses self-harm and suicide, including methods and deaths. We encourage all readers to go gently. All… more
Can single-sex wards prevent sexual violence in mental health hospitals?
Content note: sexual abuse A joint investigation by The Independent and Sky News, published earlier this week, revealed that nearly… more
Surveillance is not ‘safety’
I’ve seen first-hand the steady increase and reliance on new technology, which is now wide-spread across NHS mental health wards…. more
We should be sceptical of trauma-informed care
Harm is harm, but harm under the guise of being trauma-informed is reprehensible…. more
Misogynoir in healthcare: Reviewing the 2023 Women’s Health Strategy
The barriers Black women encounter when receiving good quality physical and mental healthcare are rooted in factors relating to culture, stigma and misogynoir…. more
Navigating class as a lived experience advocate
There’s always an undeniable tension that exists between my class background and career in the mental health sector, between my personal identity and how much I’ve needed to change in order to fit in…. more
Self-harm: misunderstandings about harm minimisation
This blog post is the text of a thread originally posted on Twitter by @jaunty_aphorism on 06/09/2023, published on the… more
I don’t want a seat at your table: co-production in mental health services
As a consequence of the involvement and co-production agenda – or arguably, as a consequence of the co-option of it – it seems that things are stalling…… more